Kentucky Route 255 (KY 255) is a south-north

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

located in south central

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. It provides access to Interstate 65 and Mammoth Cave National park to residents of southern Barren County.

Route description

Rocky Hill to Park City

KY 255 begins at a junction with KY 252 in Barren County, near the Rocky Hill community. The route is narrow and considerably curvy until coming to a junction with KY 1297 about later. After this junction, the route straightens somewhat, proceeding north for another before coming to an intersection with the cojoined

US 68 U.S. Route 68 (US 68) is a United States highway that runs for from northwest Ohio to Western Kentucky. The highway's western terminus is at US 62 in Reidland, Kentucky. Its present northern terminus is at Interstate 75 in Findlay, Ohio, though ...

KY 80 Kentucky Route 80 (KY 80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state, ...

in the Bon Ayr community. KY 255 widens somewhat past this point, continuing on for another mile before bridging the

Louie B. Nunn Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and ...

Cumberland Parkway The Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway is a east–west controlled-access highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky, extending from Barren County in the west to Somerset in the east. It is one of seven named highways designated in Kentucky's par ...

via way of an overpass. The route then proceeds north for before coming to an intersection with KY 1339. KY 255 then continues north for before being carried onto a bridge over a

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

track, the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

before intersecting

U.S. Route 31W U.S. Route 31W (US 31W) is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Route 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. At one time, it split with U.S. Route 31E at Sellersburg, Indiana, crossing into nearby Louisville via the Ke ...

. KY 255 previously passed the ruins of

Bells Tavern Bells may refer to: * Bell, a musical instrument Places * Bells, North Carolina * Bells, Tennessee * Bells, Texas * Bells Beach, Victoria, an internationally famous surf beach in Australia * Bells Corners, Ontario Music * Bells, directly stru ...

, and then intersected US 31W (Second Street) after a railroad crossing until 2012, when it was re-routed to go over the tracks via a new bridge on the west side of town. KY 255's concurrent run with US 31W lasts , where KY 255 turns left onto

Mammoth Cave Parkway The Mammoth Cave Parkway is a major roadway located in the Mammoth Cave National Park in west-central Kentucky. It encompasses parts of Kentucky Routes 70 and 255 within the park in northwestern Barren and eastern Edmonson Counties. It close ...

. Its original concurrency with US 31W lasted for .Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (1996) (PDF).
Barren County Highway Map
' (Map). Retrieved October 7, 2014.

Mammoth Cave National Park and northwestern Barren County

After its brief concurrency with US 31W, KY 255 branches north, going before intersecting with

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

at its Exit 48 interchange. After this intersection, KY 255 continues in a northwesterly path and enters Mammoth Cave National Park, which is north of the Interstate. It proceeds north for another 0.9 miles, passing Diamond Caverns before entering the far eastern portion of Edmonson County and reaching its first intersection with KY 70 in the southern part of the park.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining federal highways and Kentucky state highways, as well as regulating other transportation related issues. The Transportation Cabi ...

(1987) (PDF).
Edmonson County Highway Map
'. Retrieved December 13, 2015. Editor's note: Local road list and mileage log included. This was KY 255's original northern terminus from the 1930s until sometime in the mid 1970s. At that point KY 255 joins KY 70 by making a right turn eastward to re-enter Barren County. This concurrency lasts for before reaching an intersection in Highland Springs, where KY 255 turns left, while KY 70 turns right to head for Cave City. KY 255's current northern terminus is located near the Sand Cave Trail at another entry into the Mammoth Cave National Park. That point marks the end of state maintenance. The road itself, however continues into the park solely as Cave City Road, and ends at another intersection with the Mammoth Cave Parkway just south of the park's visitor center. This road was part of the original KY 70 alignment within the park until it was rerouted to its current in-park alignment in the 1970s.

(1937)
Barren County Road Map
(Map) (PDF). Retrieved December 16, 2014.

(1955).
Barren County Highway Map
(Map) (PDF). Retrieved December 16, 2014.Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (1958) (PDF).
Edmonson County Highway Map
' (Map). Retrieved October 7, 2014.

History

The state route was established during the 1930s. it originally ran from Park City, following the Barren-Edmonson County line, and then eastward to end where the current eastern split of KY 255 and KY 70 is located. In the 1950s, KY 255 designation was extended onto formerly locally maintained back roads from Park City southward to Bon Ayr (formerly Bonayer), and further south to KY 252 at Game, Kentucky (now Rocky Hill) just north of the then-impounded

Barren River The Barren River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 13, 2011 river in western Kentucky, United States. It is the largest tributary of the Green River, which drains ...

, which formed

Barren River Lake Barren River Lake is a , reservoir in Kentucky created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1964 by impounding the Barren River. The lake occupies parts of Allen, Barren, and Monroe counties. The Barren River Lake Dam is an earthen dam, 146 fe ...

sometime later. Ky 255 was also extended onto the old KY 70 alignment from the current KY255/70 split in Barren County to the southeast boundary of the Mammoth Cave park.

Points of interest

The ruins of Bells Tavern are located alongside the original KY 255 alignment near the railroad tracks. Built in 1830, it was a favorite stop of wealthy patrons before it burned in 1860. A roadside marker marks the location of the tavern and details some of its history.

Diamond Caverns Diamond Caverns in Park City, Kentucky was discovered on July 14, 1859. Tours are available year around; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. Tours last one hour and is a half mile round trip. History On July 14, 1859, a slave of l ...

, the second oldest cave tour operation in the United States, is located just off of KY 255, just north of its intersection with I-65. A roadside marker gives a history of the site.http://migration.kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=Subject&subject=257

Major intersections

References

External links

Bells Tavern Gallery
{{Attached KML, display=inline,title 0255 Mammoth Cave National Park 0255 0255